Month: October 2019

“You are my hiding place; You shall preserve me from trouble; You shall surround me with songs of deliverance. Selah.” – Psalms 32:7

Deliverance is a word that scares half of the body of Christ, and confuses most of the rest of us. Images of Dana Carvey running around the SNL stage dressed as the Church Lady trying to “EXORCISE THE DEMONS!” come to mind for many people. Others think of satanic possession or rituals performed in Latin when the word deliverance is mentioned. The enemy of our souls would like nothing more than perpetuating this stigma surrounding deliverance. It keeps far too many of us from ever going after and obtaining the real deliverance needed in our life. I think we need to dive into the Bible and find out what deliverance really means!

The Oxford dictionary defines deliverance as: the action of being rescued or set free. That definition by itself is enough to put some of the stereotypes about deliverance to rest. That isn’t even a biblical definition! There is a second definition in the Oxford dictionary as well: a formal or authoritative utterance. We’ll come back to that in a bit. There are two Greek words used in the New Testament that are translated as deliverance: rhuomai (meaning “rescue”) and exaireo (meaning “take out of”)

I think to understand what deliverance really is, we should first examine what it is NOT. First, it is not exclusively an outward supernatural event. Certainly it could be, but we need to rid ourselves of the idea that the package of “deliverance” always involves demonic possessions, spinning heads, or exorcism rites. While there are some instances found in scripture about “demon possessed” individuals, I think in our lives we are much more likely to encounter “demon influenced” people (ourselves included!). Satan works day and night to try to put chains on people; believer and non-believer alike. We don’t have to be “possessed” to be bound up in chains brought on by the enemy. These chains can range anywhere from bitterness, anxiety, depression, addiction, and pride to idolatry, adultery, theft, or murder. Being bound in chains is a condition needing deliverance!

Deliverance is also not freedom from all temptation. This is going to shake-up a lot of our theologies, but God never promised to remove temptation. God delivering us from something does not mean that we won’t ever be tempted to return to it. Many believers wholeheartedly believe that God will make the devil stop tempting you in certain areas. I’ve even heard it preached from the pulpit, that when God delivers you, the desires are permanently gone. This not only runs contrary to scripture, but is incredibly harmful to Christians who are trying to get free.  They feel like God has deserted them. They think that they must not have qualified for true deliverance because the temptation is still there. This idea that God setting us free will eliminate all temptation needs to be eradicated in the church. The Bible clearly explains that the enemy still wants us and will continue to look for opportunities to trip us up.  I Peter 5:8-9 reads, “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world.”  

We are told to resist the devil! There is nowhere in scripture that we are told to pray “God please make the devil stop.” We can’t try to push what God has told us to do back on Him. In his letter, James repeats this same admonishment. James 4:7 reads, “Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” We are to resist the enemy and God’s word promises that he will flee from us. We have to do it! Likewise, there is no promise in the Bible saying that God will make the enemy forget what our weaknesses are. With God’s power behind us we may be more powerful than the enemy, but he is crafty. He is clever. Even after being forced to flee, he will come sneaking back around and tempt us with those things from which we have been freed. As the scripture above says, we must be sober and vigilant because he is stalking about looking for people to recapture. So what profit does the concept of deliverance really hold then?

Let’s go back to that Greek word from earlier: rhuomai. It means to rescue. If someone needs rescuing, it means that they are helpless in themselves and require assistance from the outside. This is exactly what God does to provide deliverance. If we look at the scripture from James 4 that we read earlier, we can look at the previous verse and see what God adds to our situation. James 4:6 reads, “But He gives more grace. Therefore He says: ‘God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.’”  When we are trying to escape out of any prison that the enemy has us locked in, we realize very quickly that we don’t have the strength. We cannot hope to do anything in our own power. It is through the medium of deliverance that God’s grace is enabled in our lives. With enough grace, we can do anything! Temptation will come. It is inevitable. But God gives us grace to overcome. Deliverance is the enabling of supernatural grace in our lives! After all, we can’t be an overcomer if we have nothing to overcome.

The second definition from the Oxford dictionary is: a formal or authoritative utterance. Is there a more authoritative utterance than the word of God? Along with the verses we’ve already read, there are numerous others that give us the assurance of deliverance. Deuteronomy 20:4 says, “For the Lord your God is He who goes with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you.”  There will be fights, but we have One who will lead us in battle. In the parable of the wise builder and the foolish builder, Jesus says that the rains will beat against both houses, but those who have a firm foundation (puts their trust in Him) will stand. Isaiah 54:17 reads, “’No weapon formed against you shall prosper, and every tongue which rises against you in judgment you shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is from me,’ says the Lord.” How is that for an authoritative utterance? In II Corinthians 2:14, Paul writes, “Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place.” This is why reading and declaring the word of God over ourselves is so important. It isn’t just our guidebook for life; it is a key element in our deliverance!

Deliverance isn’t creepy. It isn’t scary. It is the will of our good and generous Father. Our deliverance has been bought and paid for by the blood of Jesus. He didn’t just buy our salvation. He didn’t just purchase our healing. Jesus wants to see us live free! Perhaps we can’t live free from temptation or struggle; but we can certainly be free from the chains of sin that the enemy tries desperately to keep on us. Let’s use His word as our sword against the attacks of Satan. Let’s seek after and obtain God’s deliverance in our lives. He is the only One who can truly set us free!

“In the multitude of words sin is not lacking, but he who restrains his lips is wise.” – Proverbs 10:19

Conversation, disagreement, and even debate are tools of civilized human communication. It has been such since the beginning of time, and it will never change. Our ability to vocalize our opinions is a legally protected right, at least in this country. Jesus Himself not only listened to others, but also discussed and even debated with the religious leaders of His time. Having a contrary position and sticking up for that position is not evil or wrong.

Trying to verbally trap and humiliate another person is ALWAYS wrong.

We live in a generation where civil disagreement and reasoned debate has been replaced with Internet memes and “drop the mic” statements. We see it most often during election seasons, but it’s becoming more and more common in everyday discourse. Social media has become rife with this type of behavior. What started out as a platform for staying connected with friends and family has now been relegated to 90% petty arguments about politics, religion, music … and cat videos. A whole lot of cat videos. There are so many people that I know to be good Christians that become someone entirely different behind a keyboard and monitor.

Can we choose not to follow or listen to those that hold contrary beliefs? Absolutely. Can we choose to disassociate ourselves with people that we believe are amiss in their thinking? That’s our choice. Can we even verbally disagree with someone’s opinion that has been put on a public forum? Although it’s usually wiser to ignore and move on, we do nothing wrong by respectfully disagreeing. However, there is never a situation where degradation of someone’s character is biblically permissible.

If, during a discussion, we are waiting to decimate someone with our argument, we have already lost the dispute. Having to get in the last word shows zero love and puts a spotlight on us. God gets no glory when we run down another one of His kids.  In I John 4:20, John writes, “If someone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?” When we “drop the mic” we are simultaneously dropping our robe of righteousness, our garment of praise, and our covering of integrity. No one wants to be on the battlefield naked, but we are doing just that.

I know that boiling sermons down to witty one-liners is the chic thing to do right now. Rhyming titles using alliteration or droll whimsy are fun and can stick in your head. There isn’t anything wrong with wit as long as it’s not used as a weapon against someone else.  Sarcasm is probably the second language in my home, and I’m not bragging about that, but it’s mostly in fun. However, my facetious humor can quickly turn biting if I’m not careful.  I have to bite my tongue far too often because the thoughts I have, while funny or poignant, are not kind. And there is no excuse to not be kind. In Romans 12:18 Paul writes, “If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men.” In other words, we can’t control the other guy, but we can certainly control what comes out of our mouth (or types from our fingertips).

Someone disagreeing with our view is not a battle cry. We don’t have to take the bait. And we certainly don’t have to take cheap shots at people who we feel are in error. Are we praying for them? The answer is usually no. Are we basing our judgments on personal experiences? Again, usually not. Normally our outrage is a few “cherry-picked” statements that someone else has pieced together to make things sound entirely more nefarious than they are. Even if our assessment of someone or their view is completely correct we are in the wrong for attacking their integrity. Ephesians 6:12 reads, “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.” People are not our enemies. Period.

We are not the Bible police. We are not the judge, jury, and executioner of brothers and sisters in Christ. We are not those who don’t know how to love. Let’s not look to go to war with other Christians. Let’s not seek out opportunities to argue and debate. Paul writes in II Timothy 2:14, “Remind them of these things, charging them before the Lord not to strive about words to no profit, to the ruin of the hearers.” Let’s do our part not to destroy the unity of the kingdom. Let’s lift each other up!